The present invention relates in general to athletic equipment bags, and more particularly, to athletic equipment bags that include multiple elongated storage compartments and flexible dividers.
Athletic equipment bags are becoming increasingly popular in numerous sports because of their functionality and attractiveness to athletes. Known athletic equipment bags are becoming more lightweight and flexible to provide easier transport of the athlete""s equipment, clothing, and other gear. In the sport of baseball or softball, for example, known athletic equipment bags typically include two compartments, one for baseball bats and the other for the player""s uniform and gear. Some of these bags include clips for hanging the bag in an upright vertical position on a chain-link fence to keep the bag off of the ground. Once the bag is hung on the fence, however, the player""s uniform and gear in the single compartment shift to the bottom of the bag. This has the undesirable effect of mixing the player""s uniform and gear together making it difficult for the player to locate smaller items stored in the compartment.
In an effort to rectify this problem, some known bags are now made with rigid shelves within the compartment to help organize and separate the ball player""s gear within the bag when the bag is hung vertically. These rigid shelves, however, are inflexible and add weight to the bag. Moreover, these known bags only partially assist with the organization of the player""s gear. That is, the known bags do not provide for the organized storage of the player""s smaller items which are mixed with the larger items on the rigid shelves. The present invention overcomes these and other known disadvantages with existing athletic equipment bags.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an athletic equipment bag that provides multiple large and small storage compartments for the segregation of all the player""s equipment and gear regardless of size. It is another object to provide an athletic equipment bag that provides for easy access to those compartments. A further object of the invention is to provide an athletic equipment bag that includes flexible, lightweight, perimeter-reinforced dividers that also serve as storage shelves when the bag is hung vertically. Yet another object is to provide an athletic equipment bag that includes a side flap that encloses smaller compartments located on the side wall of the bag and that also forms a large storage compartment extending the length of the bag.
In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention includes an athletic equipment bag that has a bag enclosure which defines a rear wall, a forward wall, first and second side walls, and top and bottom ends. The bag further includes a plurality of compartments which extend the length of the bag for storage of larger equipment and gear. Located within one of these compartments is a flexible, lightweight, perimeter-reinforced divider that provides for better organization within the bag and that also serves as a storage shelf when the bag is hung in a vertical, upright position. The bag also includes a side flap attached to one of the side walls extending the length of the bag. The side flap forms an elongated compartment which extends the length of the bag and also serves as a cover for smaller compartments or pouches that are located on the side wall. A handle and a shoulder strap are also located on the bag to provide easy transport of the bag.
The full range of objects, aspects and advantages of the invention are only appreciated by a full reading of this specification and a full understanding of the invention. Therefore, to complete this specification, a detailed description of the invention follows, after a brief description of the drawings.